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Pincer ICV
Soviet Pincer ICV "Soviet Battle Taxi at the ready!" :- Pincer ICV Tactical Analysis * Battle Taxi: Flexible and with upgraded armour for the modern age, the newest marks of the Pincer allow infantry to keep pace with armoured vehicles while shielded from attack by its hardened shell. Though slower and less capable on water than the Riptide, the machine is comparably more robust and fully proof against infantry weapons. * Double Trouble: The twin machine gun mount on the Pincer provides ample damage and suppression to enemy infantry, allowing it to fend off threats until its passengers disembark. * Field Ambulance: Room enough for six soldiers makes the Pincer an attractive option for infantry support, particularly as soldiers sheltered within can have their wounds treated using a medical kit bolted on to the internal bulkhead. * Quadruple Trouble: Experimental versions of the ICV-4 have removed the necessity of large periscope devices through the use of external cameras, freeing the turret up for the placement of an additional pair of guns on the left side, allowing for greater coverage of firepower. Operational History In terms of doctrine, many of the successes that can be attributed to the Soviet Union in warfare can be attributed to their embracing mechanisation within the Red Army. From the first day of the Second World War, Soviet infantry and armour have operated in tandem, multiplying their battlefield effect considerably. Key to this doctrine of mechanisation is the invention of the Infantry Combat Vehicle. A combination of the heavy armour and tracks of a tank, space for transporting an infantry squad, and a weapon designed to support that squad, the ICV revolutionised the way infantry moved about the battlefield. Unlike infantry in unarmed APCs, an ICV could not only drop troops off but support them once they were at the front. The vehicle that would become the Pincer went through several iterations before arriving at the familiar ICV-3 and ICV-4 profiles. The first ICV, built in 1946, was armed with a pair of 50mm anti-tank guns mounted on a large turret with a full basket; the design briefing was quite literately a fusion of tank and transport. Weaknesses in this model were apparent before the war even started, though they still saw action as impromptu light tanks. The ICV-2 was closer to the final form, with a simplified turret mounting either a single 50mm gun or a pair of 30mm guns; the machine was considerably lighter, but the only way in or out of the machine was the hydraulic rear ramp and the turret and driver hatches, which was obviously a liability in the field. In 1951, however, the ICV-3 began production. With an even smaller turret mounting a single machine gun and a 30mm gun making room for a roof hatch and side observation ports allowing soldiers inside to monitor the battle, the ICV-3 was produced in massive numbers and was the face of mechanised warfare throughout WW2. Often, the vehicle would be retrofitted into A and B marks, with A models carrying an autocannon and B models carrying two machine guns; this specialisation was useful on the field by allowing commanders to concentrate either weapon on a target while the other vehicles were free for other duties. Since then the Pincer has been produced constantly, in increasingly upgraded models. It's difficult to tell where the ICV-3 ends and the ICV-4 begins, but the modern model barely resembles the original. An entirely new, remotely operated turret keeps the crew from venturing above the protection of the hull and removes a considerable structural weakness from the vehicle, while the inside of the vehicle is entirely reconfigured and totally modular, allowing the machine to perform a wide variety of battlefield roles, such as casualty evacuation. Better armoured than the closest Allied analogue, the Riptide ACV, the Pincer has sacrificed speed and flexibility for this protection; it's barely capable of staying afloat on water and has no additional weapons beyond its pair of heavy machine guns. Behind the Scenes The look of the Pincer II, with its offset machine-guns, was intended to be more in line with modern Soviets like the Hammer as compared to the double-barrelled look favoured by WW2 era vehicles. The vehicle also takes heavy inspiration from the real-life BMP/BMD infantry fighting vehicles. Just the Stats Vietcong Pincer ICV "How the hell did that thing get behind us?" :- Peacekeeper in a dangerous situation Tactical Analysis *'Claws of Justice:' The Pincer is a fast, amphibious, anti-infantry light tank. While not as good as its ARVN competitors in a straight firefight, its mobility allows it to perform hit and run attacks on targets, often retreating into a river to escape. *'Guns Blazing:' Armed with a pair of burst firing machine guns, Pincers will have trouble dealing with vehicles, but none whatsoever picking off small groups of infantry. They can also fire their rack of bolt-on missiles to hit more armoured targets outside of retaliation range. *'Cobbled Together:' Poor armour, helplessness against aircraft, lowered speed while swimming and the lengthy reloading time, minimum range and poor accuracy of its rocket rack are all major weaknesses of the Pincer. *'Triple Clawed': Pincer crews will sometimes salvage 30mm autocannons from destroyed Beagles and weld them onto their vehicles for some anti-vehicle firepower. Doing this, however, usually takes a fair bit of experience. Background For the Vietcong, equipment is not always easy to come by, so they have to make do with whatever they can find. French Hex-49 machine pistols are used alongside Soviet PPSh-500 submachine guns, snipers must make do with temperamental SKAS rifles, and homemade mortars are mounted on on rusting pickup trucks. In particular, vehicles are rather hard to come by for the Vietcong; as a result, Vietcong forces which do manage to salvage or otherwise acquire military vehicles do whatever they can to maximise their effectiveness. This can be seen in the case of the Pincer ICV, an obsolete model of infantry combat vehicles that the Soviet Union sold off to the North Vietnamese when they replaced them with newer models. To make the best use of these vehicles, Vietcong forces have mounted additional weapons or given them other upgrades, such as screw propellers that allow them to traverse water or welded on 30mm autocannons that add some additional firepower. Vietcong Pincers often sport highly effective jungle camouflage (though this is in part due to the fact that moss has grown all over the vehicles), allowing them to blend into the jungle better than NVA Pincers, though this camouflage is admittedly ineffective outside of the jungle. One of the most notorious modifications that the Vietcong have made to their Pincers was to strap on a rack of Katyusha rockets, salvaged from abandoned BM-14 trucks, to the roof of the vehicle, turning it into an improvised artillery piece of sorts. While the rockets take up the space that would normally be used to transport infantry, this modification gives the Pincer the ability to lob a devastating amount of high explosives on a target area and quickly retreat away, though accuracy is abysmal and reloading is a long, tedious, process. Of course, following the Tet Offensive and the arrival of Allied forces in Vietnam, thousands of vehicles had to be abandoned by the NVA in their retreat, including countless Pincers, something which proved to be a major boon for the Vietcong. As the Vietcong were to discover in the subsequent weeks, a good number of these vehicles were still in good condition, having been abandoned after getting stuck in mud, running out of fuel, or some other problem that could be easily fixed. Before long, the Vietcong had dredged out dozens of Pincers, as well as other vehicles, and restored them to operational condition with a few repairs. Just the Stats NVA Pincer ICV "Rush the Guns!" :- Unoffical motta of NVA Mechanised Divisions Background One of the advantages the Pincer has is that the basic technology required for its design is extremely low. Once the parts have been stamped out, they can be assembled by hand with minimal technological intervention. This has allowed the NVA to field the Pincer in numbers far beyond what the barely industrialised nation should be capable of; automated production lines built to Soviet specifications in Hanoi churn the parts out from massive rolled steel sheets before shipping them out for assembly; it's estimated that they manage to assemble an average of six vehicles a day, so long as they are kept supplied. With such a large number of the vehicles available, North Vietnam eagerly deploys them en masse, creating mechanised units through the simple process of herding infantry units into the back of Pincers and telling them they are now part of a mechanised division. This extremely streamlined process means that the NVA fields three mechanised divisions for each one the ARVN or Allied Reservists have deployed. They use the vehicles to lead assaults, so their human wave tactics at least have the ground cleared ahead of them by armoured vehicles. However, for all their advantages in numbers, the Pincer suffers individually. As they are built with just the bare essentials, they lack many of the features that Soviet built Pincers possess, such as gyroscopic aiming, weapon cooling shrouds, easy to use controls, or proper ventilation. However, it makes up for these shortfalls with impressive ammunition stores and robust mechanical tolerances, as well as standard use of the 30mm autocannon from the "A" model Pincer ICV. This allows the NVA Pincer to engage Beagle tanks on a similar footing while still providing anti-infantry cover with the DShK. However, the Pincer is still primarily a transport; it is meant to support and transport infantry, and should leave enemy armour to Rhino tanks. Just the Stats Category:Units Category:Vietnam